History of the Jacksonville Jaguars
The group initially included future Florida Governor Jeb Bush and Jacksonville developer Tom Petway, and came to be led by shoe magnate Wayne Weaver, founder of Nine West.
The troubled negotiations over the Gator Bowl lease led the ownership group to withdraw from the NFL expansion bidding in July 1993.
[10] To accommodate construction, the 1994 and 1995 games of "The World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party" were split between the home fields of Florida and Georgia, and the 1994 Gator Bowl was played at Ben Hill Griffin Stadium in Gainesville.
In what is often regarded as one of the three biggest upsets in NFL playoff history,[17][18][19] the Jaguars defeated the Broncos by the same score as the previous week against the Bills, 30–27.
Their fellow second-year NFC expansion team, the Carolina Panthers, also got to their conference championship game, where they lost 30–13 to the eventual Super Bowl champion Green Bay Packers.
[21] As a result, the Jaguars settled for 2nd place in the division, a Wild Card berth and, for the second straight year, the 5th seed in the AFC playoffs.
The Jags postseason would end quickly as they fell in their first game, a 42–17 defeat against the eventual Super Bowl champion Denver Broncos at Mile High Stadium.
The Jaguars hosted the Miami Dolphins in the AFC Divisional playoffs, a 62–7 victory in what would be Dan Marino and Jimmy Johnson's last NFL game.
Though these games were wins, key players Byron Leftwich, Mike Peterson, Akin Ayodele, Paul Spicer, and Rashean Mathis were hurt during this stretch.
The Jaguars ended the season losing 28–3 to the two-time defending champion New England Patriots on January 7, 2006, in the AFC wild card playoff round.
The team started off 2–0, defeating the Dallas Cowboys (earning the NFL's highest winning percentage on opening days at .750 with a record of 9–3), and shutting out the defending champs Pittsburgh Steelers.
They missed the playoffs with an 8–8 record, but there were some positives, in particular an impressive rookie season by their second-round draft pick, running back Maurice Jones-Drew.
On June 15, 2007, the Jaguars released veteran strong safety Donovin Darius, who had seen diminished playing time in previous years due to mounting injuries.
[33] Center Brad Meester missed the first two months of the season and guard Chris Naeole, signed to the roster mid-season in response to these injuries, was injured in pregame warmups before playing a single snap.
Taylor, who is considered to be one of the greatest Jaguars in the history of the franchise, rushed for over 10,000 yards during his tenure with Jacksonville and earned one trip to the Pro Bowl.
[35] 2009 marked a low point, with the team's attendance averaging around 50,000,[36] causing seven of the eight home games to be blacked out, and leading NFL commissioner Roger Goodell to address the issue with owner Wayne Weaver.
Running back Maurice Jones-Drew emerged as second in the league in rushing yards and David Garrard threw for 23 touchdowns, a franchise record.
Marcedes Lewis went to his first Pro Bowl and the Jags had one of the best young defensive tackle pairs with Terrance Knighton and rookie Tyson Alualu.
McCown started two games until he threw four interceptions in a lopsided loss to the New York Jets and Blaine Gabbert was named the starter the following week.
The Jaguars offense would continue to struggle under the rookie quarterback, losing the next 4 games in a row, until an upset victory over the Baltimore Ravens at home on Monday Night Football.
On November 29, owner Wayne Weaver announced the firing of head coach Jack Del Rio, whose record had been 3–8 through the first 12 weeks of the season and 68–71 over his 9-year tenure.
To do this, the team selected wide receiver Justin Blackmon in the first round of the 2012 NFL draft and acquired Laurent Robinson in free agency.
[57] On January 8, former Atlanta Falcons Director of Player Personnel David Caldwell was hired as the second full-time General Manager in Jaguars history.
With plenty of cap space to work with, Jacksonville splurged in free agency, adding defensive tackle Malik Jackson from the Denver Broncos and cornerback Prince Amukamara from the New York Giants.
The following season, Jacksonville started strong with a 3–1 record through September, but lost ten of their remaining twelve games, including seven in a row, to falter to 5–11 and last place in the AFC South.
On October 2, 2021, following a week four loss to the Cincinnati Bengals, a video of head coach Urban Meyer partying and inappropriately dancing with a younger woman who was not his wife in an Ohio bar went viral.
On October 17, 2021, in an NFL International Series game played in London, England, the Jaguars beat the Miami Dolphins 23–20 on a game-winning field goal by kicker Matthew Wright to improve to 1–5 on the season.
[114] On December 16, 2021, the Jaguars fired Meyer as head coach due to reports of run-ins, inner turmoil among the staff and players throughout the season, and an assault allegation.
[119] Their season would end the following week with a 27–20 loss to the eventual Super Bowl LVII champion Kansas City Chiefs in the Divisional round.
The offense also took a hit down the stretch when wide receiver Christian Kirk suffered a season-ending injury early in the game against the Cincinnati Bengals.
